Four weeks ago, the Giants looked more likely to be watching the postseason on Fox than to be playing in it. But now, Big Blue is in the playoffs.

Things can change that quickly in the topsy-turvy world of the NFL. That’s exactly what happened with Big Blue.

At 6-4 and headed for what was considered an automatic win in Houston over the expansion Texans, the Giants laid a Lone Star-sized egg, losing an embarrassing 16-14 decision.

Just when you thought they’d hit bottom, the Giants came home the next week and dug their hole deeper, blowing a 12-point, fourth-quarter lead before losing in overtime to the Titans.

“We can’t even look at the playoffs any more,” Giant running back Tiki Barber said after that loss. “We don’t control what happens any more. We have to rely on other teams to lose. The one thing we can control is to win.”

Not such a promising proposition, considering the Giants were suddenly 6-6.

Was Bill Parcells available? Heck, was the guy on the corner selling hot dogs? The Giants were all but out of the playoffs for the second straight season.

Until …

Until they did what Barber said they had to do – and started winning.

They traveled to Washington and beat the rival Redskins, despite missing five defensive starters. Incredibly, it was backup safety Kato Serwanga, released earlier in the week by the Redskins, who sealed the win with a game-turning strip of Washington’s Darnerien McCants.

Afterwards, the Giants were still hanging around – and even Serwanga called the situation “surreal.”

“Everybody’s counting us out, but we’re still alive,” Fassel said. “It will be over when we say it’s over.”

They weren’t talking yet. The Giants returned home to blow out the Cowboys, 37-7, before tearing up the Colts on the road last week – a 44-27 slaughter that rekindled memories of the team’s 41-0 NFC Championship Game rout of the Vikings two years back.

Offensive stars like Barber and wideout Amani Toomer emerged along the way, as did animated rookie tight end Jeremy Shockey.